MACH5
Imperial Masterpiece
Last Friday I had Bjorn at my place for the day. Last May I purchased a subalpine fir (abies lasiocarpa) from Ryan Neil that I decided to give it to Bjorn to style as the first task of the day. This material is very interesting as it suffered from a forest fire long time ago and somehow managed to survive. After most of the main trunk died back, lower branches and smaller trunks eventually grew from its base. This produced a multi-trunk growth formation of great character and a stout trunk with a huge flaring root base. I am very partial to multi-trunk trees and really was looking forward to styling the tree myself. But when the opportunity arose to having Bjorn at my garden, I decided to let him do it instead. Bjorn ended up styling two trees and later in the afternoon I brought several more into the studio for a critique of each.
We started working at 8am, first discussing the direction and style for the tree. It took about four and a half hours to complete it. Some branches only have foliage at the tips but fortunately subalpine fir bud back readily. In a few weeks, I will slip pot it into a wooden box and next year it may go into a more final bonsai container.
Below is the tree as it looked before the styling work. It's very healthy and was ready to be worked on.
Here is the work completed. The first styling done and all branches are now opened up to receive more light and air which should induce good back budding.
Up top there is a long piece of deadwood that we wanted to keep but needed to be bent to the left. It was wrapped with a piece of wet paper towel that then Bjorn covered in aluminum foil to keep it moist for a few hours. It was then bent with the help of a guy wire using an iron rod to hold it in place.
Some action shots.
The fire damage that once killed most of the tree clearly visible in these photos.
Finally back in the garden enjoying a beautiful spring day.
We started working at 8am, first discussing the direction and style for the tree. It took about four and a half hours to complete it. Some branches only have foliage at the tips but fortunately subalpine fir bud back readily. In a few weeks, I will slip pot it into a wooden box and next year it may go into a more final bonsai container.
Below is the tree as it looked before the styling work. It's very healthy and was ready to be worked on.
Here is the work completed. The first styling done and all branches are now opened up to receive more light and air which should induce good back budding.
Up top there is a long piece of deadwood that we wanted to keep but needed to be bent to the left. It was wrapped with a piece of wet paper towel that then Bjorn covered in aluminum foil to keep it moist for a few hours. It was then bent with the help of a guy wire using an iron rod to hold it in place.
Some action shots.
The fire damage that once killed most of the tree clearly visible in these photos.
Finally back in the garden enjoying a beautiful spring day.
